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Under the News
A blog by bestselling author and journalist Ron Franscell
Monday, February 03, 2014
The Day the Music Died ...
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
The darkest night, a lifetime ago
|Becky (r) and Amy (front)
What have we learned in these past 40 years? God. Something, I hope. Personally, I now know evil is a force of nature, no more within our ability to deflect than a hurricane or an earthquake. Goodness can be turned aside and silenced, but wickedness is unstoppable. We must deal with it when it blows through, when it shatters our homes and lives. There is no insurance that will rebuild us, so we must struggle on our own to give it a proper meaning and weight, then go on.
Not forget.
Just go on.
On a frosty February morning, thirty years after the crime, I visited Amy and Becky's grave. A fresh snow had fallen overnight. Approaching the grave, I saw one set of footprints from the path to the grave, where someone had lingered and walked back to the path. I don't know who visited that morning, but it suggests the memory remains fresh.
And their story continues to echo in the small town of my childhood, and in many hearts, because in death they, too, were invested with memory and hope. To me, they were literally the girls next door, but to everyone who felt the sudden, chilly wind of fear in the hours, days and months after the crime, they represented every girl next door. Their fates were entangled in our fears.
|Fremont Canyon Bridge near Casper, WY
The first ingredient is calamity. After a dark night of the spirit, resilience is genuine dawn, where we can begin to trust in an orderly and predictable universe again.
Some never survive until dawn, and others survive but never see it.
True survivors of extreme adversity — war, a life-threatening disease, rape, murder, childhood abuse and terrorism, to name a few — are able to repair themselves. The rest die physically, emotionally or both.
What makes a survivor?
Bernard Kempler was born to Jewish parents in Poland in 1936. As a mere child, he endured life in ghettoes and concentrations camps, a barbed-wire escape, a clandestine and penniless existence on the run, in which he dressed as a girl and hid in crawl spaces in burned-out buildings. After the war, he emigrated to the United States and became an eminent Jungian psychologist.
He credits his survival to his flexible psyche as a child, not taking the horrors personally, a sense of spiritual protection, his temperament, and his ability to dissociate from the terror at hand.
When psychiatrist Dr. Robert Lifton studied survivors of Hiroshima and the Holocaust, he also found that truly resilient people have many adaptive mechanisms. His conclusions: They are able to integrate seemingly incongruous ideas and actions, seek consistency and ordinariness, remain connected to human events, and search for spiritual meaning.
Becky tried. For almost nineteen years, she struggled to wriggle free from her demons, waiting for the first light to break, just as she had on her horrific night in Fremont Canyon.
But in the end, the dawn was false.
It never really came.
Evil had existed in Casper, Wyoming, long before me, and all around me. I hadn't seen, heard, tasted, felt nor smelled it, but it was there. Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins were from that town, just like me. They'd always been there.
No, this was a story about evil coming to me, to my heart, not my town. It would have come sooner or later anyway, as it does for each of us. Whether it settles in like dust or blasts through like a tempest, we cannot avoid it. We can only build our homes and our hearts strong enough to weather it when it comes, and hope the damage is reparable.
Survival is an instinct, not a choice. Perhaps Becky's courage came from fear: She was afraid to die. Her only hope — hope distilled to its ethereal essence — was the next breath. Not tomorrow. Not next week.
But we all fall eventually.
Like gravity or wind itself, evil is a force of nature.
Excerpted from THE DARKEST NIGHT © 2007
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Is Chris Lane's killing less outrageous than Trayvon Martin's?
A 40-year-old mass murder might offer clue
charged with first-degree murder. Police say Edwards danced while they were booking him; then they found Tweets in which he'd written "90% of white ppl are nasty #HateThem" (and that, incredibly, isn't the worst of it). Luna is the suspected shooter. (A third teenager, white, faces lesser charges as the driver of the getaway car.)
America just endured a year-long spasm of racial agony that followed a different shooting. When neighborhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman, a Hispanic, shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in a Florida scuffle, the reaction by media, celebrities, and race profiteers was swift. Long before Zimmerman went to trial he was pilloried as a racist, wannabe cop who stalked and murdered a defenseless, gentle child in cold blood. Evidence eventually showed neither characterization was true, but it didn't matter. Sides had been drawn and nobody was budging. Even after Zimmerman was acquitted, the airwaves were filled with continued angsting about the case. Justice, some of them said, didn't happen because the jury didn't come to a different conclusion.
So far, the media hasn't been angsting about the tragic Oklahoma ambush, at least nowhere near its wall-to-wall coverage of the Zimmerman case. No celebrities have printed T-shirts demanding "Justice for Chris Lane." The president hasn't mused wistfully that he might have been Chris Lane. The Attorney General hasn't recalled a time he was jogging and got shot in the back. The Justice Department hasn't mobilized to investigate whether Chris Lane's civil rights were violated. The race profiteers, who show up like corpse flies in white-on-black crimes, are silent and absent. No surprise there for the people who think the media, politicians, and pop culture refuse to divert from their perversely and politically correct narrative.
Guess what? It isn't new.
|Kansas kid Mark Essex
reportedly encountered
racism while in the Navy
When I researched this mass shooting for my 2011 book, DELIVERED FROM EVIL, I found surprisingly little press coverage of the event, and even less analysis in the months that followed. But while mainstream media were comparatively quiet about the massacre, black outrage erupted within hours of Essex's death.
Even before Essex's body had been shipped back to Emporia in a simple wooden crate, black militant leader Stokely Carmichael praised Essex for "carrying our struggle to the next quantitative level, the level of science."
And within days, columnist Phil Smith of the Chicago Metro News, an activist black weekly, eulogized Essex as a "new hero in an old struggle."
"Essex may not have been in love with white people, but that made him as normal as thirty million other Black people," Smith wrote.
He suggested Essex was framed by a "sick white racist society" bent on the "systematic extermination of young Black men." No young black man, he said, would ever "go berserk and kill white people for no reason."
"White people hate the idea that Black people, by virtue of their very existence, force whites to deal with their own dishonesty, deceit and criminal intent … White people truly believe 'the only good nigger is a dead nigger,'" Smith seethed. "If there was one lesson that [Essex] had learned in his short life, it was that Black men are the most dispensable item in this country."
|Mark Essex's New Orleans apartment had racist and
radical slogans on its walls
"I do think Jimmy was driven to this," she said. "Jimmy was trying to make white America sit up and be aware of what is happening to us.
"I don't want my son to have died in vain," Mrs. Essex continued. "If this terrible thing will awaken white America to the injustices that blacks suffer, then some good will have come from it."
Although the Howard Johnson attack swiftly resurrected the ghosts of Charles Whitman's 1966Texas Tower massacre, it quickly fell out of the national media spotlight. Many observers believe stories about black rage ran counter to the media's efforts to portray a nation where African-Americans should be seen as innocent, noble, civilized victims of white oppression, more Rosa Parks than Nat Turner, a messianic slave who, inspired by an eclipse of the sun, led the mass-murder of fifty white people in 1831.
And the current narrative in the mainstream media hasn't changed much. It wants to perpetuate certain myths, or at least not destroy them. It covers Zimmerman in depth, but barely notes hundreds of other crimes in which the killers and the victims don't fit the casting call. The editors and producers exploited Trayvon Martin and caricatured George Zimmerman into a despised symbol of white oppression, but have fumbled cases such at the New Orleans mass murder and (so far) the thrill-killing of Chris Lane because they didn't fit the politically correct narrative.
The point should be justice, not color-coding.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
For my OCD friends...
|This will probably drive you crazy. See more at this website.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Ruth Steinhagen house, Chicago
This is where obsessed baseball groupie Ruth Ann Steinhagen--whose 1949 shooting of ballplayer Eddie Waitkus inspired Bernard Malmud's The Natural--lived ou the rest of her deluded life. She died in obscurity last December, but the death was only just discovered accidentally by a Chicago Tribune reporter. Read about it here.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Huffington Post explores SOURTOE COCKTAIL CLUB!
This week, the Huffington Post went deep into my new memoir, THE SOURTOE COCKTAIL CLUB, the true story of my extraordinary road trip to the Yukon with my teenage son Matt to find the infamous cocktail containing a mummified human toe.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Soundtrack for the Apocalypse
1. Apocalypse Now (The Doors)
2. End of the World As We Know It (REM)
3. Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)
4. Knocking on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan)
5. Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones)
6. I Shall Not Be Moved (Elvis Presley version)
7. God Bless Saturday (Kid Rock)
8. DOA (Bloodrock)
9. Waiting for the End of the World (Elvis Costello)
10. Rapture (Blondie)
11. Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire)
12. Disintegration (The Cure)
13. The Four Horsemen (Metallica)
14. Something to Die For (The Sounds)
15. The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash)
16. Ride of the Valkyries (Richard Wagner)
17. It's Not My Time (Three Doors Down)
18. Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
What would you add?
Monday, May 02, 2011
Osama got off easyAmerica hasn't always treated its dead monsters' corpses with such respect
Killed yesterday in a daring night raid on his compound in Pakistan, Osama's corpse was whisked away by American Special Forces so they could prove that the world's most feared monster had been dispatched.
But now that this colossal dragon had been slain, what would we do with his carcass? Certainly many among us fantasized gruesome indignities, or at least something akin to being trapped in a jet fuel-soaked, burning skyscraper as it crumbled to dust.
But in civilized societies, fantasies and societies often diverge. In this case, DNA and photos were taken and before the sun set again, Osama was quietly sent on his way to Allah and whatever rewards awaited him in Jannah, the Muslim heaven.
Today, a U.S. government official said, quite simply, that Osama was buried at sea and his body was "handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. This is something that we take very seriously, and so therefore this is being handled in an appropriate manner."
For being on the short list of history's most hated and feared monsters, Osama received a more respectful burial than many lesser enemies of the state. In fact, for all our self-righteous preening about our superior civilization and manners, the United States has actually treated the corpses of its worst antagonists with contempt and irreverence, occasionally bordering on post-mortem sadism.
History is full of examples. Ordinary criminals and evil-doers generally were usually dumped in unmarked graves outside the fences of our "proper" cemeteries. Some were lynched and their bodies defiled in grisly ways (such as Old West train robber "Big Nose" George Parrott, whose skin was turned into a pair of shoes for the governor, and whose skull became a candy dish.)
In 1942, eight Nazi saboteurs landed secretly in America to wreak as much havoc as possible, but their evil plot came unraveled. Six were executed and buried in a remote potter's field in Washington beneath wooden slats bearing only numbers. In time, the graves were lost completely, and that was just fine with American authorities.
Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth (ironically, also mortally wounded in a bold night raid by soldiers) was dissected and initially packed in an old musket case and buried in an unmarked grave on a Washington Army post in 1865. Later, his box was moved to a warehouse where it sat for several years until it was returned to his family (who buried it in another unmarked grave.)
Almost 40 years later, a strange story arose that Booth had eluded his captors and had committed suicide in an Oklahoma hotel room. On the off-chance that the body they tended was, in fact, Booth, the local morticians mummified him and propped his corpse in a rocking chair (reading a newspaper) in their front window for several years, until his body was claimed by a Tennessee lawyer who sold Booth's Mummy into the carnival sideshow circuit. It toured freak shows for decades until disappearing in the 1970s.
In fact, presidential assassins never fared well.
Charles Guiteau, who murdered President James Garfield in 1881, was hanged and dismembered before all but his brain (shipped to a doctor in Pennsylvania) was dumped into an acid vat. His bleached bones and a few other morsels are still in the U.S. Army's National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington.
Leon Czolgosz, President McKinley's anarchist assassin, died in the electric chair in 1901. His body was laid in an acid-filled casket and buried unmarked in New York.
JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was treated slightly better in death, but hardly with generous respect. His funeral in 1963 was deliberately scheduled at the same moment as JFK's services because authorities knew all eyes would be glued to the president's televised funeral, not on Oswald's. In fact, not even Oswald's wife attended his simple graveside service in Fort Worth. Six reporters had to be drafted to act as pallbearers ... because only reporters showed up.
So while it's not known if an imam said any final words over Osama's corpse as it was assigned to The Deep, it's clear he got a slightly better send-off than many of America's enemies have gotten. And in the end, maybe there's some reason to think we're actually starting to get the hang of this civilization thing.
UPDATE 12:12 PM CDT: "Today's religious rites were conducted on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian sea. The ceremony started at 1:10am and finished at 2:10am ET," the second official said. "Procedures for Islamic body were followed. The body was washed and placed in a white sheet. A military official read prepared remarks, which were then translated into Arabic by a native speaker. The body of Osama bin Laden was placed on a flat board, which was then tipped up, and allowed to slide into the sea."
Monday, March 28, 2011
Supplies limited! Two signed books by Ron Franscell!
Are you a collector of signed books? Waiting for a better price at Amazon? Just haven't gotten around to buying these books yet?
Well, now's your chance of a lifetime (or at least of April) to get Ron Franscell's two newest books, both signed by the author, at a bargain price!
The combined cover price for DELIVERED FROM EVIL and THE CRIME BUFF'S GUIDE TO OUTLAW TEXAS would be $43 (plus tax) if you bought them at most retailers. You can get them for $30 at some online stores. Here's the best deal you'll see anywhere: Until Ron's small supply of books runs out, you can get them both for only $29 with free shipping! And signed!
To get instructions on how to take advantage of this deal, just email Ron today at firstname.lastname@example.com. Once your order has been placed, you can pay by check or PayPal, and your books will be shipped right to your home!
Email Ron today!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Ready, aim ... firing-squad execution awaits
The same old debate about capital punishment is, of course, unfolding. Let it. As with all hijacked conversations in our hollering society, it ignores a large majority that can see times when the death penalty is appropriate and times when it is not. We've heard all the radicals' talking points before, ad nauseam.
What we haven't heard very often is the sound of gunfire in the death house. Firing squads date back to the invention of guns, but only two killers have actually been legally and officially shot to death in the United States, in 1977 (Gary Gilmore) and 1996 (John Taylor). It's not a default method anywhere, but remains an option for condemned inmates in Utah, Idaho and Oklahoma.
Gardner chose the firing squad because it was "easier" and maybe quicker. The process is cloaked in some secrecy, but in the past five sharpshooting volunteers from law enforcement agencies are chosen. The condemned man is strapped in a backless chair, wearing a hood and a target over his heart. The squad is set up on a sturdy firing platform 20 feet away. On a command, they fire simultaneously. One of the shooters' .30-caliber rifles is loaded with a blank cartridge so that any one of the five might reasonably surmise he didn't fire the fatal shot.
Is it cruel? If you radically oppose capital punishment, even lethal injection is cruel. If you radically support capital punishment, it isn't cruel enough. There have been difficulties with all methods (although not with firing squads in the USA because they are used so rarely). But should four bullets not shatter a human heart as expected, an alternate shooter stands by to administer the coup de grace.
Some have argued that firing squads offer a soldier's death, and that hanging more befits common criminals. Opponents say it is a grotesque, "old style" method that's needlessly cruel and messy; proponents say it is swifter and surer than lethal injection, and therefore less cruel.
What are your thoughts about firing squads as a method for carrying out the public's promise to killers? Better or worse than other methods we've used for more than 200 years?
Journalist Ron Franscell is the author of the upcoming DELIVERED FROM EVIL, an extraordinary study of 10 survivors of American mass murderers and serial killers. It will be released in January.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Computers will predict juveniles' future crimes ... what could possibly go wrong?
This software will crunch the kids' criminal history, home life, drug habits, gang ties and peer associations -- and more -- in a scientific attempt to predict which juveniles are more likely to be future problems. The idea is that the hard cases can be separated from the rest and given more intensive rehabilitation. Florida officials stress the software will be just one way they try to zero-in on the most dangerous young offenders and tailor rehab and punishment more suitably to all the 95,000 young criminals they get every year.
"Predictive analytics gives government organizations worldwide a highly-sophisticated and intelligent source to create safer communities by identifying, predicting, responding to and preventing criminal activities," said Deepak Advani, a predictive analytics expert at IBM. "It gives the criminal justice system the ability to draw upon the wealth of data available to detect patterns, make reliable projections and then take the appropriate action in real time to combat crime and protect citizens."
Similar systems are already in use in the United Kingdom with adult prisoners. No data on the effectiveness is yet available.
Although it sounds a lot like the plot for "Hal 9000 Gets a Job as a Profiler," it will be hard to argue with this high-tech crystal-balling if it can be shown to reduce juvenile crime and recidivism. I mean, all we had before was Father Flanagan's intuitions. Questions remain (in my mind, anyway) about what kind of a computer-concocted, digitized, and possibly errant "permanent record"might follow these young offenders around for the rest of their lives, even if they never offend again. I also wonder about the unproven effectiveness of these robotic analysts to really see into a human heart. Thoughts from you expert crime-watchers?
Bestselling true-crime author Ron Franscell's haunting study of 10 mass-murder survivors, DELIVERED FROM EVIL, will be released in January 2011.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Five Important Contributions by Prison Inmates (not counting eyeball tattoos)
That's right. In 1770, British merchant William Addis was doing time for causing a riot. That's when he decided that the customary tooth-cleaning of his day -- rubbing your teeth with a sooty, salty rag -- wasn't the best idea. So he cadged a small bone from a piece of prison meat and bribed a guard for some horse-hair bristles, which he tied in tufts and inserted in small holes in the bones. Voila! The first modern toothbrush was created.
In fact, more contributions to the betterment of the world have come from prison than you might imagine. In a bawdy recent post at Cracked.com, blogger Manhammer (?) listed five of the most notable inventions or ideas to come from behind bars, including William Addis' toothbrush.
You might be surprised to learn the Erie Canal and the modern carbine were prison products. You've heard of the Birdman of Alcatraz (pictured above, looking nothing like Burt Lancaster)? How about Don Quixote?
OK, so these guys were the overachievers of the hoosegow. Face it, most inmates devote their imaginations to tattooing naked women on their scrotums and trying to figure out how to make a shank out of a cockroach. How many times have you said to yourself, "If only these criminal masterminds would put their creative energies to work for the benefit of mankind, the world would be a better place?"
Well, here you have it. Isn't it nice to know that some inmates have put their "time" to good use?
You can now follow author Ron Franscell at Facebook and Twitter.
Monday, October 19, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Mass-murderer Howard Unruh is dead
Howard Unruh, who has been called (somewhat errantly) "the father of mass murder," has died in the New Jersey mental hospital where he has lived since gunning down 13 people in Camden, N.J., in 1949. He was 88 and spent more than 60 years in the asylum.
He was not, in fact, America's first mass murderer, nor even the first one to snap, pick up a gun and start killing people. He was, however, a rarity, in that he didn't commit suicide after his rampage.
Charles Cohen, a 12-year-old boy whose parents and grandmother were slaughtered in Unruh's angry, 12-minute spree, became the most outspoken survivor of the so-called "walk of death." When Unurh was seeking less restrictive accommodations in the hospital, Cohen campaigned to keep him under the strictest control. He kept artifacts of the killings in an old suitcase and yearned for the day the seriously psychotic Unruh would be dead, so he could bury the suitcase -- and his memory. Alas, Cohen himself died at age 72 less than two months ago and was buried on the 60th anniversary of the shooting.
Ironically, Unruh was a WWII veteran who might now be eligible for a burial with full military rites. No services have yet been announced.
The story of Howard Unruh's rampage and Charles Cohen's extraordinary survival will be part of a 2010 book by Ron Franscell about survivors of mass killers.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Real Texas Ghost Video: Haunted Hotel in Beaumont
Recently, a local TV crew (the station manager asked that it not be identified) embarked on a story about the 50th anniversary of the murder that changed the face of Beaumont forever. As the crew prepared to videotape a reporter at the long-abandoned hulk of the Hotel Rouler, the videographer was startled to see a misty figure in an empty window. Later, he noticed that an open mike also picked up an eerie sound: A disembodied human voice whispering what sounds like a name.
If you want a real-life scare for Halloween, take a look at the video at BeaumontEnterprise.com and judge for yourself if this ghost really exists. Personally, I'm dubious. The image is verrry faint and the sound is hardly a whisper ... make up your own mind.
Friday, September 18, 2009
A peek inside my writing life ...
Here's a taste:
"[Validation] is when a reader comes up to me or writes letter and tells me how one of my books touched her in a memorable way. For me, this has always been an intimate contract between me and readers. Agents, editors, booksellers, publicists, reviewers, media are all necessary in delivering the book to a reader's hands, but when the reader completes the circle and tells me something marvelous about one of my stories, that's when I know I told a good story."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sticks and Stones: Let's stop being offended, fergawdsakes
C'mon folks. Was the normally prosaic path of your life significantly (or even slightly) altered by any of these knuckleheaded squawks? Sure, depending on your view, maybe you were entertained or enraged briefly, but really ... did any of them truly matter?
Long ago, media critic Jeff Jarvis spoke words that should resonate with us far more than "hope and change." He said:
"The cardinal sin today is to offend (and) the clearest badge of victimhood is to be offended."
Kanye West did nothing more than extend his brand. He's the quintessential gangsta wannabe who can't control his self-centered urge to blurt out inappropriate blather at exactly the wrong moment. It comes to him more naturally than foreign accents come to Meryl Streep. After making unscripted racist comments about President Bush during a fund-raising commercial, and other awards-show interruptions, should we really be surprised by Kanye West? His comments might have hurt Taylor Swift's feelings, but how did they hurt anyone else but Kanye West?
And, oh boy, let's get our panties wadded over a potty-mouthed tennis player! Ever since John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors -- now both cultural icons -- picked up a racket, it's been the template for professional tennis players. But suddenly we're shocked -- shocked, I say -- that Serena Williams has a ghetto mouth.
Of course, Joe Wilson's is worst of all. He said, "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to Congress (and was correct) but now the House of representatives stops its work on, oh, fixing the economy, health care, terror and everything else to admonish the poor guy who has already apologized to the president. And nobody admonished Democrats for booing President Bush in his 2005 State of the Union speech. If delays in health care reform were so fatal, how many people died while Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed her outrage that a Republican would shout at a president who was, indeed, lying?
Let's get past our righteous indignation about people mouthing off. Stick and stones and all that. We are not hurt, nor even significantly diminished, by these outbursts. What should be minor blips on the media radar are being played above the fold in papers and looped endlessly on TV and radio. Talk radio is nothing but a series of these inconsequential outbursts (OK, conservatives will say it's patriotism and liberals will say it's Nazi-racist-anarchist-greedy maundering, but to most of us it's simply inconsequential.)
Maybe we should take a page from Facebook's notebook. Wouldn't it be convenient if, when one of these outbursts erupts, instead of getting all panty-wadded, we could just "un-friend" the offender and never have to listen to him/her again? Can you imagine how Kanye's record sales would fall if the USA suddenly un-friended him in one fell swoop? Or how Serena's pay-days would be suddenly thinner if nobody was watching?
If we continue to just float on the erratic stream of pop-culture like idiot leaves, we will simply continue to be offended, which makes us all victims. Screw that (sorry, folks, but that's as offensive as I can muster.)
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Commie, intolerant conspiracy-nut Van Jones: 'What did I do?'
Gee, really?
Yeah, it couldn't possibly be that Jones harbored a belief that the Bush Administration secretly ordered or allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen. Jones admitted last week that he signed a 2004 petition calling for an investigation into "evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur."
And it couldn't possibly be Jones confession that he labels himself a communist.
And it couldn't possibly be Jones' admitted membership in radical, anti-establishment groups like Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, which based itself on the teachings of Marx and Lenin.
Nor could it possibly be that he regards all Republicans (in his own words) as "assholes." (I mean, do we really have a man who hates half of America whispering to our President?)
No, it must be talk radio's fault. What a joke. Being someone who really wants "green jobs" to become an important trend in America, I resent that President Obama has subjected it to the extreme views of this one political pervert. Like too many people today, Van Jones proves to be extremely ordinary: he just can't take responsibility for his own behavior.
Good riddance. Let's hope he's replaced by someone with a realistic, honest, positive view of America's potential.
Friday, September 04, 2009
A second life well lived
A second life well lived
On a day I expected to sit with him and hear stories about his extraordinary life, I will instead attend his funeral.
Over the past several months, I developed great affection for Charles, who found himself suddenly alone in the world at 12 years old. Every time some deranged gunman would kill a large number of people, my phone would ring and we'd talk for a long time about what had happened. Of course, these killings aroused dark memories in Charles, but he always wanted to talk about the survivors and the families of the dead because he had a direct, empathetic connection to them. They were his family, too.
I will miss my friend, but tonight, he knows what we don't.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Ron Franscell will sign books in Milford CT!
And there's a rumor that copies of my previous novels ANGEL FIRE and THE DEADLINE will be available, too! So c'mon down and say hello!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Lost Letters of Janis Joplin A glimpse into the heart of a Pearl
She was a rebel among rebels. She ran away from home in Port Arthur when she was 17 and went to California. Drugs and disappointment sucked her dry. She wasn't ready for the bright lights and the big city. Withered to 88 pounds, she came home to Port Arthur -- a place legend says she famously hated -- in the summer of 1965 to dry out, to regain her equilibrium and retrace her steps. The road had taken her farther from where she started, closer to where she was from.
But in at least 64 letters from Port Arthur in the last half of 1965, we catch a glimpse of a Janis Joplin remarkably different from the whiskey-soaked, blues-drenched insurgent of legend: She comes across as a dreamy, insecure schoolgirl in love, a homebody who dreams about her wedding day, reconnecting with her faith, being mesmerized by a man flying in space and distant train whistles, not being able to fix her hair right, and being torn between spending a recent windfall on yarn to make her boyfriend a sweater or buying a guitar.
The letters were written to her fiance Peter de Blanc. They'd met in California, but when she returned to Port Arthur, he went home to Manhattan. The letters were made public in 2000, shortly before de Blanc died of cancer in 2002. The 64 handwritten letters, some very short and others as long as 8 pages, were broken up into 28 lots and auctioned off, perhaps never to be seen publicly again.
They contain no bombshells, no startling new facts, no skeletons uncloseted ... just the private Janis, not the iconic Janis. You might never see what they contained, even in this blog, because the Joplin Estate has so far asserted its copyright ownership of them -- Janis did write them, after all, and as such they are like a lyric that is owned by her and her estate. I received copies of 24 of those letters in 2005 from a rock memorabilia dealer, but when I asked Joplin's sister Laura's blessing to reprint them in my newspaper at the time, her lawyers responded emphatically: No way.
Why? The estate feared it would reduce the letters' future value. In other words, they wanted to be able to get top dollar for the contents later.
So, I'm sorry. I cannot excerpt substantial parts of the letters because their contents are legitimately owned by the Joplin Estate, even if the letters themselves are owned by collectors. But I can summarize for you some of the 24 letters I saw, and in a few spots, I will quote her words that have appeared in other reports about the letters.
[Aug. 21, 1965] After Peter visits Port Arthur, she reports that her family likes him. Mom thinks he's very refined and "has potential." She tells Peter her hope chest is filling quickly and that she, Laura and their mother will soon begin stitching a new quilt.
[Aug. 24, 1965] Janis is panicked about money -- or lack of it. She wants some, but the bohemian Janis is suspicious of the Material Janis. Peter comes from a wealthy family and all she's ever known are "ordinary people." She wants a little struggle, but she wants something to hold onto. "I don't want to just live a useless bored life of ignoble ease," she writes.
[Aug. 28, 1965] Janis is delighted to report she got all B's at Lamar and the family got a new light green Volkswagen. She tells him wistfully of lying in bed at night and looking out her window, hearing train whistles in the distance. "It's really a nice sound," she says. "I've never been so happy before ... because of you."
[Aug. 31, 1965] Janis begs Peter to mail Spiderman and Marvel comic books that she can't get in Port Arthur, to fix her fantasy-escapism jones. She tells Peter, who came to be an accomplished recorder musician, that she was practicing on her recorder but wasn't very good. She closes by telling him her mother is starting to work on some linen napkins, "a wedding gift sort of thing."
[Sept. 8, 1965] Janis excitedly reports that a guitar-playing friend from Beaumont is going to take her to a Houston folk club where the two of them might be able to get a gig for $125 a week. Right after she mails the letter, she's going to Beaumont to sing in a small club with "an old spade blues piano player."
[Sept. 9, 1965] Janis has taught herself a few ballads on the guitar "but it scares me much more than the blues," she writes. She chalks it up to her vulnerability, but doesn't really want to go deeper into it before signing off.
[Sept. 27, 1965] Janis tells Peter she wears hose and pins her hair up and "boys flirt with me. Blush. I really like it." Her guitar playing is improving, she says. And she writes that she thinks her head is "really straight now" and she's happy.
[Oct. 1, 1965] Janis is worried about Peter, who has been hospitalized for a drug problem. She gently chides him, saying she shouldn't take tranquilizers because they depress him. She wants badly to be with him as "a wife or an old lady or whatever I am."
[Oct. 13, 1965] Janis giddily reports that she has bought the "first thing for our house"-- a set of cups. She tells Peter he may visit Port Arthur again, but warns that he shouldn't do it simply to escape loneliness because "you won't be lonely long & then you'll be stuck in Texas."
[Oct. 19, 1965] It's been a while since she got a letter from Peter, but Janis reports that she bought a new pair of shoes this day and sounds a little surprised herself that she spent the night before scouring the Sears & Roebuck catalog for her trousseau. She's made A's on all her tests so far. "Isn't that good?" she asks.
In January 1966, Janis Joplin and Peter de Blanc are no longer together. She leaves Port Arthur for Austin and then San Francisco, where she joins a local band called Big Brother and the Holding Company. It's still 18 months before her breakout performance at the Monterey Pop Festival and almost three years before Woodstock, but she's on her way at last. Somewhere along the way, the Quilting Schoolgirl disappears and the Consummate Rebel emerges. On Oct. 4, 1970, she was dead and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
She was only 27 ... the same age as singer Adam Lambert.
Her star burned bright for only 4 years. And although she visited Port Arthur in that time, she never really came home again. The little girl who lit a candle in her room every night to write to her boyfriend, who dreamed of being a bride, who once sought asylum in a place she reputedly loathed, whose personal blues were belted out in some of the greatest rock anthems ever recorded, became ashes long before she could become dust.
She was a shooting star, not a sleepy, permanent planet.


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Local reaction split on Scouts lifting gay ban
Facing diverse and ceaseless protests, the Boy Scouts of America is signaling its readiness to end the nationwide exclusion of gays as scouts or leaders.
Facing diverse and ceaseless protests, the Boy Scouts of America is signaling its readiness to end the nationwide exclusion of gays as scouts or leaders.
John C: Here's a throwback to 1982... and I member this very well. I was listening to a talk radio show in Vancouver, Canada and the guest was an electronics surveillance expert, for lack of a better words, in the RCMP. In Canada, the RCMP is everything wrapped into one... like the FBI, local police, CIA and on down the line. Don't joke about the RCMP because they are very competent! Anyway this guest was saying that at that time... "there was not an electronic conversation in the world that was not monitored in some way". That's pretty scary and he used examples of radio transmissions of a Russian pilot requesting clearance for take off and how they knew everything about the pilot, flight plan, etc. Then he laughed and talked about monitoring a Russian base commander on the Kamchatka peninsula as he talked with his mistress in Moscow. Years later the Russians found an undersea listening devise in one of their telecommunications cables. When the looked at it... Motorola. I used to dirt ride in California with a gentleman who was an electronics engineer and he told me that there wasn't a ship in the world over 60' in length that they could not track and identify... instantly. And that was in the mid 80's. So think about today's technology and how every keystroke of your computer that goes online is monitored and stored somewhere. I'd suggest that hacking into the DNC system is child's play!


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The Kankakee South KOA offers a quiet get-away-from-it-all retreat that's just an hour south of Chicago. Good restaurants, golf courses, canoe trips and Friday night stock car races are nearby.
Stratford Square Mall - Bloomingdale
DuPage County, Chicago's Western Suburbs - Stratford Square Mall is a two-level enclosed super-regional shopping center located in the western Chicago suburb of Bloomingdale. The center hosts 6 anchor department stores and more than 160 specialty shops.
This bus tour allows visitors to sample four types of Chicago pizza: thin crust, deep dish, stuffed and Neopolitan. Learn about and see Chicago one slice at a time.
Quality is a simple bar with a big-city vibe that can only be described oxymoronically as "rustic modern." Quality offers a wide selection of American craft beers on tap and new beers are introduced every week.
John Deere Commons at Moline Centre
A tourism destination offering a variety of restaurants, concerts, special events, top name entertainment at "iWireless Center," and live music at the many pubs and bars. Also visit the famous John Deere Pavilion and John Deere Store, Lagomarcino's old fashioned soda and candy shop. Celebration Belle Riverboat and Channel Cat Taxi is nearby so you can explore the mighty Mississippi River. The downtown area also includes gift shops, antique stores, restaurants and hotels!
A variety of stores, including Computer Warehouse, The Bookworm, Headliners Hairstyling, Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, and Ashley Furniture.
This exciting permanent exhibition features the fully restored Gemini 12 spacecraft and tells the story of astronaut Captain James A. Lovell, Jr.'s life and career using artifacts from his personal collection. Opens Nov. 6, 2008
DESTIHL Restaurant & Brew Works
DESTIHL Restaurant & Brew Works is two amazing worlds merged into one: the fusion of craft beer and artisan foods. We are a growing gastrobrewpub concept which creatively combines and reinvents craft beer and full-flavored dishes from America's melting pot using many local ingredients and both modern and traditional techniques.
Located in an 1847 Georgian-style mansion, featuring tapas, the authentic dishes of Spain. Indoor and garden patio dining available.
One of the last actual places of its kind to find copies of thousands of magazines and posters for collectors and enthusiasts alike. Life, Rolling Stone, Motor Trend, Mad, Star Trek, Beatles, if you can remember it....Bob probably has it. All items are very reasonably priced and not only make great gifts but give you your chance to own history. The collection includes periodicals from centuries past. The store also features flags from over 200 nations.
Tour one of the oldest brick buildings in Illinois, now a two-story museum with pioneer furnishings, documents and historic memorabilia. A Lewis & Clark historical marker is also located in Shawneetown.
The cultural centerpiece of Rockford's Swedish-ancestry community, Erlander Home Museum is located in Rockford's first brick home, built by John and IngaStina Erlander family in 1871. Restored to its original Victorian decor, the twelve-room home features collections that include Rockford-made furniture, a renowned collection of more than 50 dolls created by Charlotte Weibull and many artifacts recalling Swedish immigration to northern Illinois and Rockford's Swedish heritage. Don't miss the Midsommar Dag festival in mid-June, and Lucia Fest in early December.
The third oldest brick building in Illinois and the first bank before Illinois was a state. This 2-story museum, only steps away from the Ohio River, displays pioneer furnishings, documents, photos and historic memorabilia.
CITY:Old Shawneetown
Pizza, salads and sandwiches on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. Dine in or carry out. Indoor & outdoor dining.
One-hour guided horseback rides, hayrack and carriage rides for private rental, and barn dances are available. Open through March and October.
CITY:Le Roy
This store is located on the Lincoln Square. It is a great place to find clothing, glassware, furniture and other things you might need for your home. Have a great shopping experience on the square at New Beginnings.
Hampton Inn West - Bloomington
Clean room? Absolutely. Comfy bed? You bet. Hot shower? Of course. Naturally, you should expect the basics. And at the Hampton Inn West, we're delighted to offer the more personal touches-those little "extras" you may not expect. These include baggage storage, complimentary beverage area, complimentary breakfast area, elevators, laundry/valet service, local area transportation, room service and a safety deposit box.
Those Were the Days - Knox College
In this 1940s romantic comedy a middle-aged couple looks back on their college days and courtship. The movie was filmed at Knox College in Galesburg, the alma mater of writer George Fitch (a Saturday Evening Post staffer), whose novel inspired the film. The "Old Main" building at Knox College is the only remaining original site of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas senatorial debates.
The museum offers agricultural history exhibits and programs from the period 1820-1920 when horses were the man source of power for farming and transportation. With 6000 square feet of display area featuring eight interactive touchscreen kiosks with 80 video clips making Henderson county horse era come alive again. Over 50 equipment pieces are on exhibit.
Top O' the Morning Bed & Breakfast
1912 brick prairie style home of Rock Island Railroad President. On hill overlooking Mississippi River above downtown Rock Island. Three acres of wooded grounds.
CITY:Rock Island
Strawn Art Gallery features monthly changing art exhibits, Early Mississippian and Native American pottery, and the Miriam Cowgur Allen Doll Collection.
Located across from the historic Old State Capitol, this Springfield staple offers homemade soups, sandwiches and pie. Live jazz and blues performers play during dinner on Friday nights.
Your wedding marks a turning point in your lives. Make pictures of the event so you can remember and cherish the moment. Phone for details.
International Museum of Surgical Science
Housed in a historic landmark mansion on the Gold Coast, the collections and exhibits portray the mysteries and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science. Of special interest to those in the medical field, our collection appeals to anyone interested in the history of surgery by means of art, surgical instruments, architecture, and books.
Wind Ridge Herb Farm in Caledonia, IL grows over 400 varieties of culinary and medicinal herbs without the use of chemical fertilizers. The herbs produced by Wind Ridge Herb Farm are Certified Naturally Grown. They carry only natural products with no artificial dyes, preservatives, or additives; personally harvesting, inspecting, drying, and packaging the herbs in order to guarantee quality and freshness. The garden is available for meetings, tours, groups and catered lunches. Lunches are provided for groups of 8 or more, and include a garden tour.
Not a chain, but a Rockford Original cooking it just for you. Sandwiches are made to order and the sides, including baked potatoes, are delicious. Each area location has its own, distinct personality.
Stony Creek Golf Course & Clubhouse
The Oak Lawn Park District's family friendly 18 hole golf course with restaurant and banquet facility.
CITY:Oak Lawn
Fergedaboudit Vineyard and Winery
A boutique winery located in a scenic valley in Hanover. They specialize in dry-red-bold wines from their vineyard.
Riverbend Billiards provides 10,000 sq. ft. of entertainment. There is great food and beverages for everyone, plus a full bar for our over 21 crowd. You'll find 15 7-ft. bar tables and two 9-ft. Gold Crowns. Dart machines and video games are available for the kids. Riverbend Billiards sells a wide variety of pool cues, cases and miscellaneous pool supplies as well as a large selection of soft tip darts and dart supplies. Open Monday - Thursday, 11 a.m. - 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., and Sunday, Noon - 1 a.m.
A tandem Skydive with Skydive Greater is a fun safe way for you to experience the thrill of skydiving while securely attached to an experience instructor with 1,000 jumps and many years of experience.
Alpine Hills Adventure Park & Golf Center
The 52-acre adventure park and golf center will feature year-round activities for all ages. Zip Rockford - Now open - If you are looking for a daring zipline escape for you, your friends or family, Zip Rockford provides an experience you will not forget. Fun for all ages within the weight range of 50-275 lbs. Brought to you by Rockford-based EBL Zipline Tours in partnership with the Rockford Park District. Gateway Parks snow park is divided into tubing, skiing and snowboarding sections designed to accommodate riders of all abilities – from beginners to expert. Even the smallest visitors will be transported safely up the hillside on the Magic Carpet lift. Plus, snow making equipment will cover the park in fresh powder daily. The First Tee of Greater Rockford provides educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.
Butterprint Farm Pumpkin Patch
This historic 1857 farm offers hay ride trips to the pumpkin patch, rope making, puppet shows and much more family fun.
A historic tradition lives on at the Elmhurst Park District Conservatory and greenhouses, located in Wilder Park. The conservatory holds four main plant displays a year: a Easter and Calla Lilies in the spring, Chrysanthemums in the fall, Poinsettias in December and an Environmental show with various themes in the Winter. In addition youth education programs are offered with our in house Horticulturist.
Illinois State University Planetarium
The night sky is recreated in this 100-seat celestial theater-in-the-round operated by ISU's Physics Department.
Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop and Soda Fountain
A Ghirardelli® Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop is the perfect destination to experience decadent chocolate & irresistible World Famous Hot Fudge Sundaes topped with freshly homemade hot fudge. While at a Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop, you can also indulge in unforgettable fountain treats including shakes, floats, malts and other delectable fountain creations.
Located in ridge above creek, over two mile creek bank fishing, natural marina on three mile creek, peaceful, scenic beauty.
This is a forty lane bowling center with automatic scoring, Thunder Alley sound and light experience which is open to the public. Jumpin Joe's Sports Bar & Grill, Flip Pizza Restaurant and full service banquet facilities are also offered.
57-acre wetlands preserve features wildflower, birds, and wildlife, which may be viewed from an observation deck.
Several restaurants and seven national chains, including Best Buy, K-Mart, Office Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Sports Authority, provide various home and business products.
CITY:Crystal Lake
Movie Theatre with 8 theatres featuring special ticket pricing and traditional movie theatre concessions.
CITY:Mount Vernon
Tapas-based cuisine plus a variety of sandwiches and soups. Extensive gourmet "to go" menu. Wine sales and free wine tasting Saturday afternoons.
The original wooden cross was erected in 1850 by a farmer in thanksgiving for his family being spared during a cholera epidemic. Subsequent owners of the property have repaired and replaced it.
University of Chicago Law School
Barack Obama taught constitutional law here from 1992 through 2004 (his favorite classroom was Room V, or the Harry A. Bigelow Lecture Hall). Take a self-guided audio tour year round, Monday through Friday.
Known for its urban atmosphere and delicious dining options, Longbranch Coffee House serves as Carbondale's only vegetarian restaurant. Located in the historic Town Square, Longbranch embraces the local art scene by often hosting art shows and exhibits. The food is nothing short of delicious, as all of the ingredients are grown in southern Illinois and served fresh every day. If you're looking for a delightful dining experience - this is your place!
Open April 1 - November 11, with 19 sites available for rent. Outdoor recreation surrounds!
Bill's Pizza & Pub is a family-friendly restaurant, since 1957, with a unique, comfortable, rustic, northwoods-inspired dining room with incredible wildlife mounts. World's renowned first double-decker and famous thin crust pizzas are outstanding! Bill's also offers delicious sandwiches and desserts. The atmosphere is relaxed, the beer is cold and served in a frosty mug, and the food is great. Throw your cares out the window and your peanut shells on the floor. Have Kids? Great! Bill's offers a large selection of video games for children. Convenient carryout and prompt delivery service, allows quality pizzas, sandwiches, and munchies to be enjoyed in the comfort of home or a hotel.
One of the Midwest's most celebrated shopping malls. With over 140 specialty stores including retail giants Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, and Nordstrom, this spectacular outdoor mall features beautiful gardens, landscaped walkways, sparkling fountains and children's play areas. McCormick and Schmick's, California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory, and Wilde and Greene offer a superb dining option. Catch a movie at the 13 screen AMC Garden Cinema.
This is the preserved home of Reuben Moore and his wife Matilda, who was a daughter of Sarah Bush Lincoln and stepsister of Abraham Lincoln. The frame Moore Home dates back to the late 1850s.
Borders Spring Lake Park and is habitat for deer, turkey, fox, geese, beaver and coyotes. Trails and educational programs offered.
Marketplace Shopping Center is K-Mart, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Borders Books & Music, Men's Warehouse, FedEx, Kinko's, and Bombay Company.
CITY:Fairview Heights
162 rooms. Four suites. On-site health club. 1 restaurant. Room service. Uniquely decorated and feature two TV's two phones, mini-bar and high ceilings. Located in the cultural and financial heart of Chicago's loop, the hotel is steps away from the Art Institute, Sears Tower, Museum Campus, Grant Park and Chicago's lakefront.
Victorian Bed & Breakfast from 1889. One block from Harrah's Casino. Five Master Suites with whirlpools, 2 with working fireplaces. Full breakfast served.
The Hilton Garden Inn Addison is located only 11 miles from O'Hare and 22 miles from Midway Airport. Certain to please executive travelers are the hotel's wide array of amenities including complimentary high-speed internet, in-room hospitality center, Herman Miler chairs and much more!
A favorite of walkers and hikers, this park offers year-round camping and scenic hiking trails, many of them hugging Lake Shelbyville, Eagle Creek has 163 vehicular campsites, with 148 of those being Class A sites with electricity, picnic tables, and showers. There are 56 sites available by reservations made at least 2 weeks in advance by mail.
Visit our enchanting store and each time you visit you will discover a whole new array of gifts and home accessories. We not only specialize in unique gift ware, but we also create custom floral arrangements and can come to your home to help accessorize.
Great bar with a wide variety of beers and music.
One-of-a-kind restaurant in Southern Illinois serving up traditional Cajun dishes, such as gumbo and shrimp po' boys,alligator entree', 'gator eggs' and more. Comfort-food favorites like burgers and pasta dishes are also served. With seating for 30, this restaurant's exposed brick walls and original tine ceilings create a fun, laid-back atmosphere.
Tribute is a classic American restaurant with a modern culinary edge. Chow Crowd Restaurant Group has set out to offer contemporary American fare, to deliver excellence in food, service, ambiance and price, providing a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere. Tribute is located in the Green Seal certified Chicago's Essex Inn and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as "grab and go" options for on-the-go business people.
Hungry after a day shopping and seeing the sights in Grafton? Then stop by the Crazy Beaver Lodge for a hand-tossed fresh pizza made with the toppings of your choice. On Fridays only, you can buy a 5 pound deep dish pizza which is sure to satisfy even the biggest pizza lover in your crew. Sandwiches, salads and appetizers are also available. Live music on Sundays. Hours: W - F 4 p.m. - 10 p.m. S - Su 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
The Varsity Center for the Arts
What started as a single-screen movie house in 1940 has become a power house for live music and community theater. This gorgeous theater is one of the greatest components to Carbondale's thriving art & culture scene, as it serves as home to the Jackson County Stage Company, which presents several plays during the year, and hosts the weekly Friday Night Film series. The Varsity serves as a venue for live entertainment during the Carbondale Rocks Revival, an annual city-wide music festival in addition to accommodating local and regional musicians during the year to bring the city exceptional entertainment.
Family-operated cafe features all-American favorite foods with daily specials.
A 9.960-acre bottomland environment of sloughs and backwater lakes, Sanganois is managed primarily to provide a refuge for migratory waterfowl and a public duck hunting area.
The Rock Island Trail provides 27 miles for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing. One of the premier rails-to-trails facilities in Illinois, this trail is a sure-fire winner for the entire family.
Nestled within the native landscape of Greenbelt Forest Preserve, the Center and its outdoor amphitheater can be rented for meetings, conferences, classes, weddings, showers, receptions or family reunions.
CITY:North Chicago
Large bentgrass tees and greens give this fun layout a big course feel. Several shots from elevated tees provide a beautiful view of the area. Features pro-shop, snack bar and club house.
CITY:Arlington Heights
1401 West Restaurant at Chicago Marriott Oak Brook
Featuring prime steaks and seafood, our chef blends innovative American cuisine with French country cooking to create regional and seasonal specialties with full bodied flavors.
CITY:Oak Brook
A spacious 3 bedroom home perfect for family or group getaways or vacations. Equipped with a 40 inch TV, dishes for 6, and all the comforts of home. Wireless access throughout.
Mill Creek Park is located seven miles northwest of Marshall, Illinois on the Lincoln Heritage Trail road. Mill Creek consists of 2,600 acres of land and 811 acres of water with 39 miles of shoreline. Since opening, the park has continued to develop; there are picnic areas on either side of the boat launch and at areas around the lake, a 139 site campground with shower facilities and playground, 15 mile ATV trails, horse and walking trails, courtesy docks, cabin and boat rental including kayaks and paddle boats.
La Colina Linda Farm and Bed & Breakfast
This one acres farm offers a two bedroom - two bath non-smoking cottage. The hospitality is open and inclusive and serves vegan plant-based meals for breakfast. Instruction and guidance for anyone interested in organic farming practices.
In the heart of Chicago's prestigious North Shore, Hyatt offers suite-size guest rooms, state of the art StayFit health club, indoor lap pool, hot tub, hi-speed wireless internet access & more. Easy on-off access at I-294 and Lake Cook Road. Convenient to O'Hare International Airport and close to Ravinia Festival, Chicago Botanic Gardens, Cuneo Museum, shopping, the Metra train station to downtown Chicago and many other attractions. Please visit the website for more details.
Heath candy was invented in the early 1900s in Robinson, and Hershey's produced the Heath bar and all of your favorites here.
If you don't know what holograms are, put this museum on your sights-to-see list. This is the only institution in the United States devoted exclusively to the holographic art form. Marvel at the more than 200 three-dimensional laser-generated images.
Christian County Historical Society Museum
See an 1820s log house, the 1839 Christian County courthouse where Lincoln argued cases, an 1854 farmhouse and an 1856 one-room school. Also view military weapons from five wars, a collection of 1800s antiques and much more.
Round Lake Area Park District offers visitors a wide range of activities and facilities to enjoy. They include the Renwood Golf Course, the new sports center, the Prairie Grass Nature Museum, community theatre, outdoor pool/aquatic center, fitness center, child development center, teen center, senior center and acres of picturesque parklands. Private parties/outings at any of the facilities can be accommodated.
CITY:Round Lake
Offers hunting, fishing, golf and meeting packages, as well as getaway weekend packages. Gas fireplaces, central heating and air, satellite TV, and gourmet meals delivered directly to your table. Outdoor Sportsman's Lodge is conveniently located just off Newton lake with 2 cabins so you can enjoy your hunt. Some of the nations best Bass Fishing can be found as well as a hunters paradise for all game. Guided and non-guided fishing and hunting packages are available by calling. In the off-season this facility is a Bed & Breakfast. Described as a "Sportsman's paradise" by World Champion Angler Denny Brauer.
The Informant! - Illinois Department of Public Health
The vice president of an agri-business giant is recruited by the FBI to uncover evidence of his company's suspected illegal price-fixing. But in his zealous attempt to become the ultimate informant his lies begin to pile up and erode the secret agent world he has created for himself. Look for Alexander Calder's giant red outdoor Flamingo sculpture as two of the movie's main characters walk through downtown Chicago's Federal Plaza.
Cocktail, is one of the most inviting playful bars & restaurants in Lakeview, appealing to a broad-based clientele that is short on attitude and long on fun. Its two attractive bars (cocktail & garden bar) feature black crystal chandeliers, onyx-lit bar tops and a swank sidewalk café, known as the gardens. Cocktail is the perfect place to sip libations, enjoy great food and converse with friends, both old and new. Cocktail offers daily drink specials featuring djs that deliver the best music on Halsted!
The Marge Cline Whitewater course is located in Yorkville at Bicentennial Riverfront Park on the Fox River, just 60 miles southwest of Chicago. The paddling community is all a dither about this course. Whether you're a novice or an avid canoeist or kayaker, you're sure to have a great experience.
Assumption Historical Society/Museum
This museum displays old school pictures and artifacts from the town of Assumption. Open by appointment.
Beautifully crafted silver jewelry, Minnetonka moccasins, log furniture, and an outstanding art gallery filled with sculptures and pottery can be found at the Eagles Nest.
Smitty's, in St. Charles is family owned and operated, using only the freshest, most flavorful ingredients to prepare all of their mouthwatering sandwiches, homemade soups, crisp salads, ice cream and more.
CITY:St. Charles
Camp Sagawau Environmental Education Center
Environment Education Center - offers cross country skiing in the winter.
Clinton Lake State Recreation Area
Enjoy 9,300 acres of great outdoor picnicking, hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, water skiing. Fall foliage, winter offers ice fishing, snowmobiling on frozen lake. 308 campsites, Private marina.
An Evanston tradition for 28 years, designer-goldsmith Peggie Robinson and her staff can assist you in your selection of a piece of unique jewelry from their own designs, or help you design a piece just for you.
From Our Hands to Yours, another unique DuQuoin Main Street shoppers delight. Find antiques, crafts and gifts of all sorts.
CITY:Du Quoin
Antique store.
Located on Route 50 North. Includes various stores and restaurants such as Super Walmart, Kohl's, Lane Bryant, Bed Bath & Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods, Petco, Rue 21, Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonalds and many more!
Four star European boutique hotel located just off the Magnificent Mile, one block from the famous Water Tower Place and nearby dining and shopping.
Illinois Central Railroad Historical Society Headquarters
The Illinois Central Railroad Historical Society is dedicated to preserving historical and educational information about the Illinois Central Railroad and the many predecessor railroads that have been part of the IC system. This headquarters feature a depot, museum and library.
This complex includes softball diamonds, three junior soccer fields, three full-sized fields and concessions.
CITY:Rock Island
A friendly little store with a lot of new stuff on the east side of the square.
This 18-hole golf course was designed by Pete Dye.
Be Our Guest at the all-new, comfortable & inviting Country Inn & Suites Peoria. Conveniently situated across from the Shoppes at Grand Prairie, each of our 74 clean & spacious rooms features indulging amenities for the business & leisure traveler. The complimentary breakfast will start your day right, and upon your return, be our guest to play in the pool, relax in the spa or get your heart pumping in the fitness room. Our state-of-the-art business center & Read It & Return Lending Library, offering a wide selection of titles, are also available. Our friendly staff invite you to be our guest while visiting the heart of Illinois!
The Peru Mall is an enclosed regional shopping center in Peru, IL on Rt 251, just off I80 with over 50 stores. Open Monday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 9:00 pm and Sundays 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Located in the heart of Andersonville, Huey's Hotdogs is a standout in a hotdog town. We've got a wide variety of dogs, brats, burgers, and sandwiches. Whether you want a classic Chicago-Style hot dog, a specialty sausage, or one of our many vegan specialties, Huey's has a huge menu to explore.
The state-of-the-art Argus Brewery is located in Chicago on the second floor of the Joseph E. Schlitz distribution stables at 113th and Front Avenue, which was built in the early 1900's. Two large terra cotta horse heads on the parapet still identify this unusual building that once housed the Schlitz horse teams and carriages. To create truly remarkable beers, the brewers relied on their family's more than 100 years experience in the food and beverage industry as food technologists and chemical engineers. Tours and tastings occur on Saturdays. Tour includes the history of the brewery and its famous neighborhood, samples of the latest Argus brews and a commemorative Argus Brewery glass.


text:
I have a join table with the following structure:
CREATE TABLE adjectives_friends
adjective_id integer,
friend_id integer
ALTER TABLE adjectives_friends
OWNER TO rails;
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_adjectives_friends_on_adjective_id_and_friend_id
ON adjectives_friends
USING btree
(adjective_id , friend_id );
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_adjectives_friends_on_friend_id_and_adjective_id
ON adjectives_friends
USING btree
(friend_id , adjective_id );
ALTER TABLE adjectives_friends CLUSTER ON index_adjectives_friends_on_friend_id_and_adjective_id;
This table contains around ~50 million records.
The adjectives table is a look up table of ~150 entries. What I would like to do is find the friend that most closely matches a list of adjectives. Assume that the maximum number of adjectives a friend has is 10. So, I tried this query:
SELECT count(friend_id) count, friend_id
FROM adjectives_friends
where adjective_id in (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
group by friend_id
order by count desc
limit 100
This takes around ~10 seconds on my dev machine, with query plan
"Limit (cost=831652.00..831652.25 rows=100 width=4)"
" -> Sort (cost=831652.00..831888.59 rows=94634 width=4)"
" Sort Key: (count(friend_id))"
" -> GroupAggregate (cost=804185.31..828035.16 rows=94634 width=4)"
" -> Sort (cost=804185.31..811819.81 rows=3053801 width=4)"
" Sort Key: friend_id"
" -> Bitmap Heap Scan on adjectives_friends (cost=85958.72..350003.24 rows=3053801 width=4)"
" Recheck Cond: (adjective_id = ANY ('{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}'::integer[]))"
" -> Bitmap Index Scan on index_adjectives_friends_on_adjective_id_and_friend_id (cost=0.00..85195.26 rows=3053801 width=0)"
" Index Cond: (adjective_id = ANY ('{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}'::integer[]))"
The order by is what is killing me, but I don't know of a good way to avoid it. The count can't be precomputed becasue the adjectives to be selected are completely arbitrary, and there are > 150 choose 10 combinations. Right now, I think that the best option is to grab the 100 best results on friend creation, save the results, then update it every n time intervals. This would be acceptable as the adjectives are expected to be switched that often, and I don't the exact 100 best results. But, if I could get the query speed to around 1 - 2 seconds, that wouldn't be neccessary. Any suggestions?


text:
Jackson will be in the Laker family after all: He and Jeanie Buss will wed
Phil Jackson wasn't busy coaching the Lakers again on Christmas. Instead, he was proposing marriage to Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss.
Jeanie accepted — as she showed Thursday from her Twitter account with a photo of the diamond ring on her left ring finger and the statement: "Twitter family — Phil finally gave me that ring I wanted!"
Jeanie Buss, executive vice president of business operations for the Lakers, began dating Jackson shortly after he came to the Lakers as head coach in 1999.
Buss, 51, had said often she never expected Jackson, married twice previously, to want to wed again. He came around, after all.
The engagement makes even stranger the Lakers' awkward coaching search in November, when Buss was crushed that her father and brother Jim decided along with General Manager Mitch Kupchak that they'd rather hire Mike D'Antoni instead of waiting to determine if Jackson would've accepted a third go-around as Lakers coach.
So Jackson, 67, wasn't coaching the Lakers against the Knicks on Christmas, but he was getting much closer to the Laker family.
No wedding date has been set.
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text:
Free personalized radio that
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Does It Feel Good
Features of This Trackfunk roots
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extensive vamping
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
minor key tonality
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Eau Claire Ale House
Completely disappointed in the staff and the food. 3 waitresses for all of 11 tables and they still couldn't figure it out. After waiting over an hour and a half the food was horrible I couldn't ...
Bug Eyed Betty's
Read several reviews on a few different web sites and most seemed to pretty good so we thought we would give them a try. The appetizers came quickly and were delicious. But then, after waiting ...
Fortune Cookie Chinese Restaurant, Eau Claire
Still the best.
Bug Eyed Betty's
As the owner I'd like to respond to ECforeva. My personal policy, if we screw something up, the customer gets the benefit. If we make a medium when you want a large, we will let you keep the ...
Bug Eyed Betty's
Called to order a carryout pizza during their Tuesday night special. Asked if I could upgrade from a medium to large and was told yes. Went in to pick up the pizza and the owner walked up and said ...
Girolamo's Court 'n House
Burgers taste like they are pan fried. Bloody Marys are ok. The place is in serious need of a deep clean or total remodel. Filthy.
Asia Palace
Arrived 30 minutes after they opened and there was still no food out on the buffet. This used to be a great restaurant until they started harassing their customers for not eating every last bite ...
Johnny's Pizza Shop
Best New York style pizza in the area hands down. The crust and sauce, which makes a pizza, is perfect. Strombolis are excellent. Great specials, too.
The Plus
Excellent pepper jack cheese curds (I call them cheese balls) and homemade ranch dressing!
Taqueria la Poblanita
Visited Taqueria Poblanita based on rave reviews. Highly disappointed. Friendly service but food lacks taste and quality. Ordered a steak chimichanga but the tiny "steak" pieces consisted of 90% ...
Muang Thai
Fine Thai menu choices with sushi to our tastes! Love the environment and the staff are delightful, knowledgeable of the menu items. Also many dishes for those who do not like Thai foods but ...
Geno's Pizza
Best pizza! Thin crust with tons of toppings. Best flavor and best value. Try the Wallo works, thin crust with all the toppings had to weigh 4 lbs!!
Fired Up Pizza Company
i had their buffet and tried about 10 different pizzas and they all tasted the same....bland at best
Sakura Japanese Cuisine
Favorite restaurant . the food is awesome , love the shrimp tempura rolls very tasty better than fuiji !!
Draganetti's Ristorante
Great Ilalian & Pizza
Draganetti's Ristorante
Great Italian and Pizzas
Altoona Family Restaurant
Great Food, Service & Prices.
Altoona Family Restaurant
Great Food, Servie & Prices
Johnny's Pizza Shop
Homemade Italian New York Pizza by the Slice..Fantastic Food Fast!!
Casa Mexicana
Best salsa hands down...when i'm in the mood for mexican, i drive to chippewa falls for the salsa and the california burrito. both are excellent.
Geno's Pizza
Incredible food(hands down the best in NW Wisconsin),nice staff, relaxed atmosphere. It just keeps getting better every time we eat it.
Taco John's - Brackett Ave
This has got to be the very worst Taco John's in the state. I used to go to this location all the time. Using the drivethru, three out of five times they forget something from the order. The food ...
Family Farms Market
Fantastic Friday fish fry. The fish is not unlimited, but access to the buffet is. It's got salad, buttery rosemary potatoes, rotini pasta salad, loaded potato salad, breadsticks, and grilled ...
Tacos Juanita Mexican Restaurant
Possibly the best Mexican restaurant in the area.
The Living Room Coffee House (Mayo Clinic, downtown)
I work at Mayo downtown, and visit almost every day, usually in the morning. Everyone working here is so fantastic, and so cheerful and friendly. They really try to get to know their customers, ...
The Living Room Coffee House (Mayo Clinic, downtown)
I have something everyday. Have never been disappointed. They staff is always welcoming and have a great attitude.
Blind Munchies
Food is good and the coffee is great. As a UW Stout student, they had really cheap breakfasts (like 2 bucks) every Saturday and was a great place to study. The volunteers are also really friendly ...
Taqueria la Poblanita
Clean, authentic, friendly, fairly-priced, and DELICIOUS! Some weeks I've gone there 5 times and had a different dish each time. When I go out of town for work, I can hardly wait to get back for ...
Bug Eyed Betty's
Food is good. Staff is friendly and quirky. Crazy good deals like Mondays any gourmet burger $5, and "halfy" hour, where apps are 1/2 price. They are good for full price, but, if you time it ...
Bug Eyed Betty's
I've always had a great experience at Bug Eyed Betty's. Jordan has done an excellent job there! Outstanding!
Mayo Clinic Cafeteria
My husband and I love the cafeteria. We ate there all the while I was receiving radiation and later learned that it is open to the public. The setting over-looking the garden and patio area is ...
The French Press
I just had a scone and a cafe au lait at this place and it was awesome. I will definitely be back for a full scale breakfast or lunch soon!
T.G.I. FRiDAY'S
It's all crap...including the FREE cold oil-slicked chips and salsa for "Stripes" members! Never going here again. I'll make my own Jack Daniel's sauce at home.
The French Press
Went here with my wife recently for a weekday breakfast/brunch. It was excellent. I ordered the southwest breakfast wrap, my wife chose the breakfast sandwich. Both were great! Fresh ...
The Rumor Mill Pub & Eatery
My first clue should have been on a Saturday night we could sit in a booth, table or a high top.....no waiting. Can you say Perkins with booze? Boring boring food, I don't think I will ever go ...
Eau Claire Ale House
Awful each time I've been there. There's always something wrong or off with the food and service is spotty at best. Hard to get someone to come back to your table even if there's hardly anyone ...
Caffe Tempo
A cafe that knows the difference between a traditional macchiato and whatever Starbucks passes off as a "macchiato," and does a killer job of making one. Probably the best all-around cafe in town, ...
It's fine if you like sugar and milk, and once in a while I can enjoy a frappuccino. However, if you want coffee that tastes good, go to The French Press or Caffe Tempo, which have espressos that ...
Racy D'lene's Coffee Lounge
It's a nice enough space when it's not a crowded Saturday morning, and they have some good stuff, but their espresso is absolutely terrible, and their coffee is overall really bad unless you drown ...
The French Press
They may be still working out some stuff, but they have a good menu and one of the best espressos I've ever had, and easily the best espresso in town.
Muang Thai
Best sushi around. Very fresh and chefs are fun and interactive. Definitely will return soon!
Fuji Sushi & Steak House
I am surprised by all of the bad reviews! I personally like to cook at home but when my Fiance and I go out, this is our first choice. We also buy their dipping "Yum Yum" sauce every time we go. ...
Yankee Jack's
My better half and I stopped Friday evening after work for their fish. Very busy and friendly. The place reminded me a little of the old television program Cheers. Food and service was great. ...
Eau Claire Fusion
Just tried a shake for the first time today. LOVED IT!! Great product, Awesome staff. Gonna try this on a regular basis!!
Dunn Bros. Coffee
I liked Gloria Jeans icy drinks, those ones that are blended. This coffee shop has something like them, pretty close to taste. I got the mocha "ice crema". It tasted really good. Funny calling ...
Dunn Bros. Coffee
Stopped into Dunn Brothers today, had to try their coffee. It was actually really good. They said it was roasted last saturday and I thought that was awesome. Would recommend!
Smiling Moose Deli
I like it. I would have never known it was there, but one of my co-workers suggested it, and it's great. A mini Mighty Mo fits in my diet plan (I'm diabetic,) but still tastes unbelievably ...
Dana's Bar & Grill - Eau Claire
My husband went to a movie at the theater, and decided to get a bite to eat after. BIG MISTAKE!! We sat waiting for a waitress for at least 15 mins, she finally stopped by AFTER she took the ...
Mahli Thai Asian Cuisine
Revisited last week and very impressed. Last visit was shortly after opening. Service, organization, and food prep all lagged then. Food is superior now, both red and green curries sport the ...
Geno's Pizza
Fantastic Pizza! Better than Sammy's now a days for sure!
Recent Restaurant Reviews
Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta
Best Service and Pizza in town. Too expensive? They always have coupons on their trays to use. I go there every time I go to the mall. They're sticking to their motto - "We're the hospitality ...
Monk's Bar & Grill
Service was prompt and friendly. Great burgers and homemade chips and dips! I had the jalapeno burger and it was excellent. Also had an order of cheese curds. Very good! Great sports bar ...


text:
Definition of townspeople in English:
(also townsfolk /-ˌfōk/)
plural noun
The people living in a particular town or city.
Example sentences
- The towns and townspeople depended on the tribute for their sustenance.
- There they are in not so resplendent a presence, reducing the town and townspeople to a laughing stock.
- Many doubted that we would ever see the day, but it has now come and the town and townspeople will be all the better for it.
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: towns·peo·ple
Definition of townspeople in:
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text:
Titen & Oakley & Anon Accessories
The Titen Red X Swiss Skate Bearings are a high speed line of bearings made by Swiss manufacturing. These bearings are just as fast as ABEC 9 bearings but will still hold their speed over longer periods of time. The Titen Red X Swiss Bearings come wi... Read More
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The original and cool style of the Oakley Batwolf Polarized Sunglasses boast a clean design with kick-butt mentality. A single continuous lens sweeps across a comfortably lightweight O Matter frame. The sleek design means business. The polarized lens ... Read More
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If you're looking to sport an timeless design that's built with performance and style in mind then you'll want to check out these innovative Oakley Sliver Polarized Sunglasses. Starting out with the lenses, the Slivers are built with a Plutonite, 6 Bas... Read More
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Lightweight, Durable, and Distinctive is what makes up the Oakley Tailpin Polarized Sunglasses. The Tailpin features Oakley's HDPolarized lenses which filter out 99% of reflected glare without the haze and optical distortion that can come with traditio... Read More
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The Oakley Tincan Polarized Sunglasses are lightweight and durable making them the perfect accessory to take on your next outdoor adventure. Whether running errands or going for a leisurely stroll, these sunglasses were made to keep your eyes protecte... Read More
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The Oakley Prizm Tailhook Polarized Sunglass puts a new twist on originality and architecture. Prizm is a revolution in lens optics built on decades of color science research. Prizm lenses provide unprecedented control of light transmission resulting i... Read More
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This cool west coast inspired t-shirt will put you in a California state of mind. Featuring O Hydrolix fabric this tee is moisture-wicking and quick drying for performance. Use this as a sport shirt or for everyday wear in warmer climates. The Wild We... Read More
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The Oakley Turbine Polarized Sunglasses offer clean lines for style and durable, lightweight features for comfort and performance. The O-Matter Frames are stress-resistant, strong and light so they can keep up with your performance level. Its Three-Poi... Read More
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If Harvey Dent from the Batman series could wear any Oakley sunglass, I am pretty sure this would his go to. The Oakley TwoFace is a blend of surf and skate inspiration with a rare look. O Matter durable frame with an aluminum lower rim creating a slee... Read More
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These Oakley Gas Can Sunglasses are uniquely designed to give you the best visual clarity and continuity. The Plutonite lenses are two lenses cut from a single shield and have properties that filter out 100% of all UVA/UVB/UVC and harmful blue light. ... Read More
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Check out the Oakley Kick Back Sunglasses and head out in a classic and stylish pair of sunglasses that offer plenty of coverage and protection. The C-5 Metal compounds are durable and lightweight so they will last quite a while and the 6 Base Lens pr... Read More
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This classic surf inspired t-shirt from Oakley is perfect for throwing on after a session. A cool chest pocket and surfboard graphics give it a beach side style. 50/50 cotton poly blend gives you softness next to skin while having the ability to dry ... Read More
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These Oakley Gas Can Sunglasses are uniquely designed to give you the best visual clarity and continuity. The Plutonite lenses are two lenses cut from a single shield and have properties that filter out 100% of all UVA/UVB/UVC and harmful blue light. ... Read More
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text:
Playlists for each of the shows are posted here, generally, within 24 hours after broadcast.
Coming up
Friday Night Shuffle is off this week, but we'll be listening to triple j - broadcasting live from SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2016!
But we'll be back serving fiyah, next Friday from 10pm on triple j!


text:
In case you haven't seen it, Crommunist stopped back briefly to drop us a video on his old blog. (It's also on his new blog, where you can see the little bit of blogging he has time for.) It's worth watching. You should watch. It's the funniest frame for talking about racism you're ever likely to see.
About the author
Stephanie Zvan is the producer of The Humanist Hour podcast. She's also one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions. Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird. Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.


text:
II can't do justice to the vacation time we were privileged to have last week, but I wanted to write down a few things, even if it's just for our own memories in the future.
The basic goal: go to Camp Fasola, a singing camp put on by the Sacred Harp Music Association, now in its fifth year. Dear wife Bess suggested we go, and so she, I, and our daughter Jane, along with two of Jane's friends (Rachel and Emma) headed down to Alabama.


text:
Definition of "off-licence" - English Dictionary
(Definition of "off-licence" from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
Get a quick, free translation!
Create and share your own word lists and quizzes for free!
More meanings of "off-licence"
Word of the Day
a delicate, soft type of cloth made from a thread produced by silkworms, or the thread itself


text:
RevolutionistsSuch a good question;When will we listen to theRevolutionists?
Summertime - A:TLA, Ty LeeSummertime"Uh, I know you," she looked at him.Zuko rounded on her, "No you don't! You're stuck in your little Ty Lee world where everything's perfect!""Zuko, leave her alone," Mai cut in. But the Prince ignored her."Ooh! Look at me! I'm so pretty! I can walk on my hands! Woo!" Zuko did a handstand and glared at the girls from his upside-down position before he fell backwards in the sand. "Circus Freak!"Azula laughed; a cruel, cold sound.Ty Lee could feel tears in her eyes, "Yes, I'm a Circus Freak! Go ahead and laugh all you want! Do you wanna know why I joined the circus?!""Here we go
" Azula sighed.Ty Lee glared at her, "Do you have any idea what my home life was like, growing up with six sisters, who looked exactly like me?!" She stood up furiously as she told them. "It was like I didn't even have my own name!" She fell back to her knees and bowed her head and lowered her voice as tears silently dripped down her face. "I joined the circus because I was scared of spendin


text:
|Message view
|« Date » · « Thread »
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|Re: Cert Lockdown - 3.3 Integration
|Tue, 07 Aug 2001 14:46:19 GMT
On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Christopher Cain wrote: > P.S. > > What's the difference between engineInit() and engineStart()? They both > say "Called when the ContextManger is started", so when in the loading process > does each get called? EngineInit is called after you add all the initial modules. The startup sequence is: 1. new ContextManager() 2. add all the modules you need ( you can add modules later, but you need a basic set to get something stable ) 3. call cm.init(). At this stage engineInit() is called. Before init() the modules are notified on addInterceptor(), contextState() ( if a context is added to the server before init ). 4. The server is in a "stable" state, ready to opreate. It now starts setting up contexts. 5. For each context, addContext() and contextInit() are called 6. cm.start() 7. engineStart() hooks is called, announcing the server is ready to take requests ( because all contexts are now in stable state ). 8. Engine moves to running state, everything is operational. Costin
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text:
Since the popularization of the starvation method in newspapers and magazines, diabetics who had been carried along comfortably and safely for years have been clamoring for starvation. When their regular physician would not adopt the treatment, pilgrimages were undertaken to institutions that featured this cure.
My personal experience teaches me that in mild cases and cases of medium severity this rigorous plan is quite superfluous, and in certain types of the disease more dangerous than the old established methods. There is this advantage in the method, that the period of protein starvation that inaugurates every tolerance determination is materially shortened. This is not new, or altogether safe; it is advantageous chiefly from the economic standpoint by reducing the length of the hospital period.
As to tolerance, I have never so far seen an increase of the tolerance for carbohydrates in these milder cases follow a starvation cure; in fact, as
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text: Hummingbird Cookies June 13, 2011 by Alexus Leave a Comment Tweet Share Pin via tesorocookies on Flickr Receive a Free Printable Baking Conversion Sheet When You Subscribe to Our Newsletter! Receive creative cookie designs delivered straight to your inbox! Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party. Tweet Share Pin« Father's Day Tool CookiesGolf Course Cookies »


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Earl Himel
Published: Sunday, March 4, 2007 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, March 4, 2007 at 12:14 a.m.
Earl "Spider" "Paw Paw Turtle" Himel, 66, a native of Thibodaux and resident of Bayou Blue, died at 10:05 p.m., Friday, March 2, 2007.
Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Thibodaux Funeral Home and from 8 a.m. to funeral time Monday at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church. Mass will be at 10 a.m. at the church with burial in St. Joseph Cemtery.
He is survived by his wife, Jeannette Marcel Himel; one son, Randy and his wife, Linda, Himel; one daughter, Cynthia H. and her husband, Chris, Hymel; four grandchildren, Christopher and his wife, Tabitha, Hymel, Sandi Himel, Randy Himel Jr. and Kayla Hymel; one brother, Warren Himel; two sisters, Dianne H. Benoit and Gloria H. Legendre.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Neville and Virgie Benoit Himel; his maternal grandparents, Oristille and Leonie Benoit and his paternal grandparents, Dorgeville and Emelia Thibodaux.
Pallbearers will be Randy Himel, Randy Himel Jr., Christopher Hymel, Chris Hymel; Jason Rodriguez and Gary Kufel.
He was employed by the City of Thibodaux for 27 years. He enjoyed spending time with his family, fishing and tending to his cattle.
Thibodaux Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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We talk to them on the eve of their first performance
Reverb and chorus inside the body of this acoustic guitar!!
Volca Sample active MIDI cable changes everything
Specilist suite for stereo and mono file processing
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